How Is the HP DV3T?

Hi

I'm looking for a 13" laptop with a good battery life (4.5h+ actual usage) with dedicated gfx.

I was set on the Vaio Z until i saw this about 1 hour ago.

HOW IS HP'S REPUTATION WITH THEIR NEW LAPTOPS?
(sorry for the caps, I really really want to emphasize reliability, as HP is known for errr... some "crap" consumer models along with horrendous tech support/warrenty)

Are there any issues with this laptop so far?

And generally speaking, how does this laptop fare in terms of heat, battery life (both 6 & 9 cell if possible), and build quality?

*Also, I forgot to mention; I'm looking at P8600 processor (or better) with at least 3gb of ram depending on how that will affect the battery life, if at all, nvidia G105M, with both the 6 & 9 cell battery combo, infinity screen, backlit keyboard, and also some sort of HP extended warrenty; chances are I might get the 2-year HP Accidental Damage Protection with Pick Up and Return; entire set sets me back approx $1500?

I'm quite excited about this laptop as it is for an amazing price when compared to something like the Vaio Z for abit worse performance but comparable battery life

 

lol whats funny is that i had almost the exact same questions as you. alot of these things have been answered in the HP dv3t has hit the HP site thread, which is pretty much the dv3t lounge right now. you'll have to dig through the last pages for actual impressions and videos.

I don't have one yet, but the people in the thread say that heat and noise are actually not an issue. It does have dedicated graphics however the battery life says you can get 4+ hours and users say you don't get that much with the normal 6-cell. Can't tell ya anything about the 9-cell though someone is bound to tell us the life they get on that.

The tech support i hear is bad also. But if you're gonna get the dv3t you'll have to put up with it. One interesting thing that a customer stated was that his dv3t came with a 2 year warranty i believe. I will ask the most recent customers if they got the same thing but yeah i was thinking about the 2 year extended warranty but then decided against it if a 2 year warranty is in there.

And why not put out the extra 50 for the 4gb ram? it used to be free until memorial day however =(. anyway if you have anymore questions post in the thread i mentioned earlier

 

Well it seems as though the 6-cell can yeild 4+ hours if wifi & bluetooth were turned off, and probably achieve abit more if brightness was turned down.

Tech support is questioanble, but I really do hope the laptop doesnt run into any problems...

And as for the ram, I'm not sure whether or not 4gb is actually necessary, due to the fact that I may be switching from 64-bit to 32-bit depending on the compatibility of some of my programs.

But currently, I'm still interested due to the battery life and the graphics power, although a Vaio Z can still yeild 5+ hours on a standard 6 cell